The present invention relates to portable mobile communications devices and systems, and more particularly to a portable mobile communications device, system and method that can receive television broadcast signals.
Portable mobile communications devices such as mobile phones are becoming more sophisticated and include many new features and capabilities. One such feature is the capability to receive mobile broadcast television signals or mobile television or the like, such as digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H), digital media broadcast (DMB), integrated services digital broadcast-terrestrial (ISDB-T) or similar technologies.
The DVB-H standard reduces power consumption and extends battery life by using a time sliced format to transfer one of many data channels to a mobile device. For instance, the radio and demodulator associated with the television portion of the mobile device are only powered on for relatively short periods of time (i.e., 0.1 seconds) while they remain powered off for longer periods of time (i.e. 1 to 5 seconds). Thus, the ratio between on/off of the radio and demodulator can range from 10:1 to 50:1 while the interval between on cycles can vary from 1.0 to 5.0 seconds.
The drawback to this power save method is that the time required to switch from one channel to another channel is noticeably and annoyingly long for the user/viewer. Conversely, leaving the radio and demodulator powered on all the time to capture and buffer all available channels will drastically affect the battery life of the device.
Currently, there are no provisions addressing the user's dilemma described above. What is needed is a mechanism that allows the user to shorten the time it takes to change channels without overly affecting the battery life of the mobile device.